Chapter Text
“Hey Otou-san, look at this!” Ran called out.
“Hrm?” Kogoro looked at his daughter, then at the TV she was watching. “What?”
“This guy! Isn’t he…”
“That guy… he escaped prison?” Kogoro stomped over and looked at the TV. “That bastard…”
“Do you think we should tell Conan-kun?” She asked.
“Hah? Why would we tell that brat?”
“Well I mean, he did say something weird when he was being arrested didn’t he? ‘It was the kid’ or something… couldn’t that have been-”
“I thought we agreed it couldn’t have been him!” Kogoro turned and headed back to his desk. “And besides, that kid is in America now right? It shouldn’t really matter to him.”
“I guess so…” Ran frowned at her father then looked back at the TV, continuing to watch the news.
Two teen detectives stood to the side of a crime scene, watching as the police proceeded to tape the area off. Shinichi suddenly stiffened and quickly glanced behind him.
“Kudo-kun?” Hakuba said questioningly. Spotting the alarmed expression on the dark haired detective’s face, his tone became concerned. “What’s wrong?” He turned to look toward where the other was looking, but Shinichi closed his eyes and shook his head.
“It’s nothing.” He shook his head again. ‘It’s probably just Kaito again. But… ’ The detective opened his eyes and glanced back once more. ‘ It didn’t feel like Kaito... ’
Hakuba gave him a concerned look. “Are you sure?” Shinichi nodded hesitantly. It was then that the Inspector appeared and walked over to them with a somewhat exasperated expression.
“Kudo-kun… again?” Megure greeted with a raised eyebrow.
Hakuba glanced at the Inspector and then back to his fellow detective.
Shinichi focused on the Inspector and laughed nervously, scratching the back of his neck. “Yes, well… you know how it goes.” The inspector simply sighed and nodded. He turned with a slightly sceptical expression to Hakuba. “And who might you be?” The inspector scrunched his eyebrows together. “You look familiar…”
“Ah, Megure-keibu! That’s Hakuba Saguru, a high school detective like Shinichi-kun.” Takagi said, jogging over. “He’s often in the newspapers and is commonly known for going after KID. You were reading an article involving him the other day, remember?”
“Oh!” The inspector turned back toward the blond detective with an approving nod. “I see. Well we’re grateful, seeing as we’ll be needing as much help as we can get with this one.” The two teen detectives shared a look.
“What do you mean?” Megure nodded to Takagi. Takagi nodded back, and looking down at his notepad he began to explain.
“The victim is Yoshikawa Sakura, a 34 year old female journalist who came to this hotel to cover the Sherlock Holmes convention. The cause of death was a single blow to her chest with a sharp object. The death… wasn’t instantaneous..” He paused for a moment. Shinichi looked toward the body with a complicated expression and Hakuba narrowed his eyes and frowned. “The problem is the time of death.” Hakuba looked at him.
“Meaning?”
“Well… her estimated time of death was between 10am and 11am. However, the body was found at…”
“12:33pm.” Hakuba finished.
“...meaning she would have been deceased at least an hour and a half without being found.” The three turned at the sound of Shinichi’s voice. He seemed to have been in deep thought. Moving his eyes away from the body, he looked back to the three. “This is a fairly public area. Numerous people have gone through here in the last few hours due to the convention and yet the victim wasn’t found until now… which means she had to have been moved after being killed.” Megure nodded.
“But that’s the issue. Where did the culprit hide the body? And how…”
“How did the murderer move the body to such a crowded place without anyone noticing?” Shinichi finished for him.
“I suppose that is what we must figure out.” Hakuba glanced toward Shinichi who nodded in agreement.
Kaito watched as the two went about their detective business, but his eyes couldn’t help but trail after the darker haired one of the two. He couldn’t get that strange expression from before out of his head. He had almost looked… resigned. Like he knew it was going to happen. And the expression he had when those guys were harassing them, especially after the Shinigami comment… Kaito didn’t like it. At all. That isn’t the kind of expression the kind hearted (slightly sadistic) and truth driven detective should ever have. Now, as he roamed freely around the crime scene he had a focused expression on his face. The magician frowned as he studied the detective’s frame. To the casual observer he would appear relaxed, but Kaito knew better. He could see the coiled up tenseness that seemed to be ever present in his detective.
Kaito paused. His detective? He had said that earlier too, hadn’t he? The magician shook his head and decided to file it away to think about later. He glanced around the hall for a moment, pausing in thought before heading away to talk to the news crew from earlier. He had to thank them for their cooperation in his previous little scheme after all.
Some time passed before the magician returned to his hiding spot, perfect for watching the investigation unfold. His violet blue eyes roamed over the officers until they landed on the fairer haired of the two detectives. Hakuba seemed to be investigating something on the corner of the room. A flash of realization crossed his features and he stood up and looked around, spotting Shinichi but stopping before calling out.
The thief watched as Hakuba’s expression shifted to one of slightly puzzled concern. Kaito glanced back over at Shinchi, who seemed to be deep in thought. Hakuba’s brow crinkled before straightening out again and he made his way over to his fellow detective. He called out to him and proceeded to motion toward the area he had just come from. The two walked over to the corner to investigate.
Kaito, as much as he loved watching the detectives work, was somewhat bored. He was sure that he would be much less so if he could only hear what the two were saying…
A smirk formed on the magician’s features. “ I think I can arrange that. ” With that thought, he started toward the detectives.
“See here, Kudo-kun… Kudo-kun?” Shinichi jolted from whatever trance he was in and looked apologetically at his fair haired companion.
“Oh, sorry.” He laughed a little sheepishly. Hakuba’s eyebrows lifted.
“Are you sure you’re alright?” He asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Anyway what were you saying before?” Hakuba seemed not to believe him but dropped the subject. At the moment, the case took priority.
“This here-” He pointed to a small indentation in the frame. “It looks as if it was made recently. Though I’m not sure what it could be from yet…” Shinichi ran his fingers over the mark.
“This…” His eyebrows knitted together in thought. “Where have I…”
From nearby Takagi was talking with Sato-keiji. “It almost seems like magic.” He said.
Sato gave him a look. “What does?”
“The whole ‘appearing body’ bit.” Shinichi lifted his head and glanced over at them.
Sato frowned. “Geez, there’s no such thing. Though this investigation might go smoother if there was.” She sighed.
Shinichi’s eyes widened. A certain magician’s face flashed through his mind.
“Kudo-kun?” Hakuba questioned when he saw his fellow detective’s expression. Shinichi stood up, looking around. Hakuba followed suit. “Did you figure it out?”
“I need to find Kaito.” He said.
“What?”
“This mark, Kaito should know what it’s from. And if I’m right…” he trailed off, not explaining what he meant. “I’m going to go find him.” Before Hakuba could reply, Shinichi ran off. He blinked, hand awkwardly outstretched in the direction his companion ran off to. Slowly, he lowered his hand.
“What is that supposed to mean?” He wondered aloud.
“What is what supposed to mean?” The blond detective jumped forward in surprise, spinning around to face the voice that had come from directly behind him.
“K-Kuroba?” He asked, calming down from his surprise.
“Yeah, that’s me. So, what were you mumbling to yourself about?” The magician paused and glanced around. “And where’s Shinichi?”
“Kudo-kun just ran off to look for you.” The magician pointed to himself questioningly, causing the blond detective to sigh. “Yes, you. He said you’d know what this is from.” Crouching back down, he pointed to the indentation in the door frame. Kaito crouched down and looked at it. The longer he looked at it, the deeper his frown became.
“Hey Hakuba.” The detective looked up and was a little alarmed at the expression on the normally friendly magician’s face. “Could you tell me a little about the suspects?”
Shinichi walked down the now empty hall with his hands in his pockets. If his deduction was right… he paused and turned. There was the sound of footsteps coming his way. Without thinking too much, the detective hid in a nearby unlocked room and listened.
“This isn’t my fault. It can’t be my fault. I didn’t- I didn’t do anything. Right. I didn’t do anything. It can’t… I didn’t…” The figure mumbled to their self and passed Shinichi without noticing his presence. Shinichi, being the detective he is, quietly slipped out of the doorway and began to follow.
The two stared at the officer in front of them, who was looking a little more than uncomfortable. They hadn’t moved since he told them they had let one of the suspects go, due to the fact that he supposedly had an emergency to attend to.
“And you didn’t think to mention this earlier ?” The officer put his hands up defensively to separate himself from the seemingly exasperated magician (he heard about what this kid could do, and so did very much not want to make an enemy out of the boy).
“I didn’t think it was necessary considering Kudo-kun was with him-” The two stiffened.
“Kudo-kun was with him? ” Hakuba asked, making sure of the facts.
“Well I mean, I saw him following him earlier so I just assumed-”
“WHAT?” Kaito hissed. The officer gave him a startled look.
“Where did you seem them?” The blond detective asked quickly.
“They were headed toward the parking lot but I don’t see what’s-” The two dashed off before the poor man could finish his sentence. Megure walked over to the confused officer to inquire about what the two wanted. After he finished the short explanation, Megure frowned. He turned toward where Takagi and Sato were listening nearby.
“Takagi-kun, Sato-kun, I’d like you to go after them. Knowing Kudo-kun…” He trailed off, not really having to finish his sentence. The two officers knew full well what could happen when Shinichi was involved.
Already the sun was almost gone. Shinichi peeked around the corner, watching the woman head toward a corner of the parking lot.
“ What is she doing? ” He thought as the woman glanced left and right, as if searching for something. In a split second decision, Shinichi brought himself out of the shadows and headed toward the woman.
“Excuse me miss!” He called. She started and turned toward him.
“W-who-” She took a step back.
“It’s alright miss.” Shinichi put up his hands. “I’m a detective. I was wondering if you needed some help.”
“A d-detective?” She stammered. Her posture relaxed slightly. “Yes I-I don’t know what to do and I-”
“It’s alright miss. Just calm down. I’m here to help.” The woman let out a shaky breath. Before she could speak, there was a click. Shinichi recognized that sound all too well. The woman froze and slowly, Shinichi turned.
“Remember me, you brat?” Shinichi’s eyes widened as he recognized the person standing before him. “You’re mine now.”
“Again! You would think he would have learned not to follow suspicious people into dark places by now!” Katio growled as the two of them ran toward the area Shinichi had been spotted.
“Again?” The blond detective asked.
“Later!” The two stopped, looking around the parking lot. The sound of voices reached their ears. The magician turned toward the direction of the voices. “That way.” The two headed forward. One of the voices was familiar, while the other was full of malice. Kaito’s poker face slammed down. He wouldn’t show his nervousness. He wouldn’t. He had to stay calm.
“-this parking lot is perfect, isn’t it? Just like the one you lured me to and sent that little devil to do your dirty work.” The two could finally make out the words being spoken.
“What…?” Hakuba wondered aloud.
“Sh!” Kaito hushed. They slowed down, opting for instead approaching quietly and staying out of sight.
“I don’t know what you are referring to.” Kaito’s eyes widened. That was definitely Shinichi’s voice. He made a gesture to keep quiet to Hakuba, who nodded.
“Of course you do! You sent that little devil to put me off guard… and it worked. I would have killed the little brat too, if it hadn’t been for that damn tire.”
“I told you, I don’t know you.” Shinichi finally came into the two teen’s view. He was standing in front of a woman with his eyes narrowed.
“Really now. Does the name *Yutaka Abe not ring a bell?” Shinichi stiffened. “I thought that brat was too smart. I thought about it and wondered. Then someone came into the prison and mentioned that someone named Kudo had given a deduction through some kid. And what do you know? It was that brat, Edogawa Conan. Everything made so much more sense. But what would the media make of that.” Yutaka grinned maliciously. “Great teenage detective, savior of the police force, refusing to show his face and instead sending a little kid to do his dirty work, almost getting him killed in the process. The public would go nuts!” He made a gesture the two teens in hiding couldn’t see. They crept closer.
Shinichi’s eyes narrowed and his voice hardened. “I told you. I don’t know you. I don’t even-”
“Know who I’m talking about? Of course you do! That resemblance is uncanny, I no longer have any doubts.”
“That’s not what I was going to say.” The detective growled. Yutaka grinned, and this time the two saw it.
“It doesn’t matter. You won’t be around for much longer anyway.” Kaito’s blood ran cold as the escaped murderer raised a gun and pointed it at the detective. “Bye bye, Meitantei-kun” The two broke out into a full on sprint.
Kaito reached out. Hakuba sprinted forward. Yutaka grinned.
“SHINICHI!” He turned at the sound of his name. The gunshot echoed through the air.